Modderdam High School was the venue for a three-day food and land living heritage exhibition and festival last week.

The event, from Monday September 23 to Wednesday September 25, was organised by the Bonteheuwel Development Forum (BDF) and those occupying the old Woodstock hospital, which they now refer to as Cissie Gool House. It included an interactive exhibition, education around growing food and a music festival.

“Our people’s needs include access to affordable decent housing, and access to land for communal food commons, where our poor can grow their own nutritious food, since we have no yards to grow our own food and cannot afford to buy nutritious food,” said BDF founder Henriette Abrahams.

Land and housing activist Bevil Lucas, from Reclaim the City, a social movement campaigning for affordable housing, said the exhibition told the stories of the people living at Cissie Gool House. Mr Lucas, who also lives at Cissie Gool House, together with Naren Sewpaul, facilitated the discussion around the exhibition.

“Cissie Gool House have partnered with BDF because we share the same kind of community building ethos. Like BDF, the residents of Cissie Gool also organise in blocks. We exercise the same kind of development education to create active citizenship,” Ms Lucas said.

Salaama Abrahams leads the team that grows vegetables on the premises of Modderdam High School. She said they had produced crops that they sold at a lower price than retailers, and the money had been used to start a neighbourhood watch.

“This used to be a dumping area, and we turned it into a food garden. There were lots of sacrifices made, and the elderly shared their knowledge with us about how to grow our own food. We also went for training.

“At one stage, we had 40 children helping us in the garden, and they all started food gardens at home. We want to bring back community pride, and reach more people to grow their own food with this initiative,” Ms Abrahams said.

Young musicians from the Gino Oliver Foundation Jazz Yard were among those who performed at the event.

Salaama Abrahams heads up the team that grows food at Modderdam High School.

Visitors to the festival soak up some jazz melodies.

The interactive exhibition encouraged all those who attended to share their own stories.